What on earth does concrete flooring have to do with elevating your bottom line? Quite a bit, actually. A concrete floor adds value to homes of all sizes and enhances business in all sectors.
Think of all the high-traffic, indoor areas you encounter throughout your day. The garage where you and your car roll in and out. Your local coffee shop and cafe. The common area at the office. What do all of these areas have in common? They’re busy places full of busy people.
These spaces are especially vulnerable to wear and tear between the weather, dirty shoes, spilled drinks, splashed motor oil, and a thousand other things that move about them on a regular basis. Concrete is a high-durability, low-maintenance surface which makes it ideal for supporting all that traffic, not to mention the spills, splashes, and dirty shoes.
Often, people are surprised by how many options they have when it comes to concrete flooring. But, believe it or not, concrete is not limited to the gritty, grey stuff we remember from the old playground basketball court. At Speck USA, we have spent years providing concrete flooring solutions to residential, industrial, and commercial clients across Iowa. We know how home and business owners choose applications that keep their space safe and visually appealing for many years to come.
Here, we explain the different types of concrete flooring and how they may contribute to the overall function of your space.
Why Concrete Flooring
Heavy foot traffic requires heavy duty flooring. Too often, homeowners and business proprietors overlook concrete as a option because they associate it only with outdoor usage. Meanwhile, they go with flooring that, while aesthetically pleasing, puts a lot of pressure on them when it comes to maintenance.
Alternative Flooring Drawbacks
- Carpet. Carpet is, by far, the most difficult type of floor to keep clean. Dirt, dust, hair, and staining liquids are so easily trapped in its fibers that regular vacuuming is necessary and, often, not thorough enough. Steam cleaning and shampooing treatments with time to dry are inevitable to restore the carpet to anything close to its original state.
- Hardwood. Wood surfaces are a decorative draw, and they are easier to clean than carpet. But they can warp in fluctuating temperatures, and they aren’t as resistant to chips and scratches like tile or concrete.
- Tile and Grout. Tile and grout create a durable floor, and they come in wide variety of decorative patterns. But the grout’s roughness often traps dirt and bacteria when brooms and wet mops push them around.
- Vinyl Tile. Vinyl tile’s smooth, solid surface makes for easy cleanup. Also, it’s customizable print design makes it a more affordable lookalike of other flooring materials like hardwood or decorative tile. However, they have a shorter lifespan than their more substantive counterparts. Furthermore, they require generous amounts of adhesive that can resurface if the floor floods.
Types of Concrete Flooring
Enter concrete — the all-in-one flooring solution for areas where you want something strong, easy to clean, and stylish. With multiple options to choose from, you’ll be amazed at just how creative you can be with a concrete floor design. Below is a list of applications we provide at Speck USA.
Surface Preparation
Yes, concrete floors can be stunning. But they usually have complicated history. Therefore, you need to take an honest assessment of the space you want to transform before deciding on which application you want to use.
A surface preparation is often the first step on the way to a new concrete floor. This procedure helps eliminate problematic areas in existing concrete like chips, cracks, residue build up, and so on. In the end, you’re left with a surface that is much more level, smooth, and ready for a new layer, even if it’s something as simple as a fresh coat of paint.
Epoxy
In our blog The Best Concrete Flooring Options for Home Basements, we called epoxy the superhero of concrete floors. And with good reason! This is industrial-grade flooring with exceptional coverage and self-leveling properties. That means it can often be directly applied over existing concrete with a seamless finish — no cracks or spaces.
Additionally, epoxy is chip-resistant, slip-resistant, and repels liquids such as water and chemicals. These qualities make it an excellent choice for areas that see a lot of messy workmanship and require a quick cleanup.
Polish & Dye
Floors with a polish & dye treatment are extra strong, smooth, and shiny. This makes them especially resistant to scuffs. Cleanup is a snap. A mop and/or broom is all you need to bring back that shimmering surface.
Polish & dye also have great potential for stylistic flair. Clients can choose between a broad pallet of customizable colors that add character to their space. From brick reds to cool blues and an array of earthy neutrals, the possibilities are rich.
SureTex™ Decorative Concrete
SureTex™ consists of a concrete overlay (i.e., a layer of concrete poured over existing concrete) which is stamped with a particular pattern. With this method, you can create a floor with the look of natural stone, tile, or wood without the maintenance woes we mentioned in the previous section.
Sealing
A proper sealing coat is necessary regardless of the concrete treatment you choose. Otherwise, your floor is liable to deteriorate prematurely and saddle you with an urgent resurfacing project in the future. Sealing solutions are just as abundant as concrete solutions, so be sure to consult your Speck USA flooring technician about what product will work best for your desired approach.
How Concrete Flooring Adds Value to Your Home or Business
Once your floor is sealed and cured, you are ready for all whole new era of home and business success!
At Home
Our blog The Best Concrete Flooring Options for Home Basements offers great inspiration for how you can increase your home’s value with a new concrete floor. Epoxy, for instance, with its liquid-repellant, slip-resistant surface makes it ideal for garages and home gyms. Or perhaps you’d love a bar room on the ground floor, in which case, a polish & dye treatment is a fantastic choice.
In Businesses
A treated, sealed concrete floor is a shrewd investment for businesses that involve heavy foot and equipment traffic, as explained in our blog The Advantages of Epoxy Flooring for Your Business. From warehouses, auto repair shops, hotels, malls, and public pools (and the list goes on) you’ll have the solution you need with the visual appeal you desire.
Concrete flooring is particularly prevalent in the food service industry. Customers are impressed with the look. Chefs, servers, and health inspectors are impressed with the easy cleanup. Everyone wins! Check out our blog The Best Flooring Options for Restaurants on how each of the aforementioned flooring solutions can work well in a restaurant.
Concrete Flooring in Iowa
Are you ready to upgrade your home or business with a new concrete floor? Contact Speck USA today for a FREE consultation. We’ll help you choose a customized concrete flooring solution worthy of the hard-working people who use it. For over a decade, our clients in the Greater Des Moines area and beyond have benefitted from their concrete floors, and we look forward to serving you as well.
